Initiative dedicated to helping revitalize efforts to meet UN's Sustainable Development Goals

Afghan people line up to receive rice donated by the Chinese government in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 23. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

The Global Development Initiative proposed by China has renewed global focus on development issues and strengthened cooperation between developing countries amid a series of global crises, government officials, international organizations and experts across the world said.

President Xi Jinping launched the proposal during a video address in September last year to the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, with the aim of steering global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth.

A timely call

"This initiative came at a timely moment. We are suffering multiple shocks to the global economy and especially to developing countries," Munir Akram, the permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Aug 26.

"This initiative brings the countries of the world, especially developing countries, together to partner with China on addressing these issues," said Akram, who is also chairperson of the Group of 77 and China. The G77, which got its name from its 77 founding members, is now a group of 134 developing countries at the United Nations.

With the world facing a storm of cascading crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, devastating rises in the cost of living and the climate emergency to growing numbers of the poor and hungry, worsening inequalities and rising social unrest, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals need to be back on track for the well-being of this and future generations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI on Sept 20.

"The holistic Global Development Initiative is a valued contribution to addressing common challenges and accelerating the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive future," the UN chief said at the meeting.

The meeting, which was chaired by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and attended by nearly 40 foreign ministers and heads of international agencies, agreed on the value of close coordination between the GDI and UN bodies in addressing poverty and advancing the SDGs.

The agreement found support in developing countries.

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, told China Daily in a recent interview that the GDI is benefiting the world in various ways.

It is assisting the global community and the UN in achieving the SDGs. It is also helping the African Union achieve its Agenda 2063, which is currently in its ninth year, and regional governments fulfill their national agendas, including Kenya's Vision 2030.

Furthermore, the initiative is striving to reverse the devastating impact of COVID-19 on development, to address the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change, and to promote green recovery and China's policy of an "ecological civilization" to harmonize development and the environment.

Senegalese workers celebrate the launching of a renovation and upgrading project of four stadiums funded by the Chinese government in Dakar, Senegal, on June 28. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

A global public good

The GDI is focused on eight priority areas: poverty alleviation, food security, COVID-19 response and vaccines, financing for development, climate change and green development, industrialization, the digital economy and connectivity, according to a concept note from the Group of Friends of GDI, which hosts working sessions at the UN.

The group was launched in January at the UN headquarters in New York. Representatives from 100 countries and 20 international organizations participated, building greater international consensus on implementing the GDI.

In less than a year, 60 countries have joined the group.

"We are hopeful that given China's own experience of development, in achieving growth and rapid growth in eliminating poverty, that the model could serve as a basis for cooperation between developing countries and China as well as among themselves, in order to advance the goals we pursue in the GDI and the Group of Friends," Akram said.

In January, China launched Phase III of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund with $50 million, providing resources for international cooperation on poverty reduction and food security.

In March, under the GDI framework, China co-organized a seminar with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. The program has helped train 1,000 people from nearly 100 countries on cross-border e-commerce.

In June, Xi attended the High-Level Dialogue on Global Development as part of the 14th BRICS Summit and announced 32 deliverables for implementing the GDI.

Those measures include upgrading the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, which will add a further $1 billion on top of the $3 billion already committed.

At the same time, he also announced readiness to enhance support for the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

The GDI includes funding for projects that will directly benefit countries from the Global South. "These initiatives will support and build on the growing volume of South-South cooperation, and will deepen collaboration among developing countries," Jorge Chediek, the former UN secretary-general envoy on South-South cooperation, told China Daily in an interview.

"In this context, China's leadership has played an essential role via political support and the strong commitment of resources to expand cooperation in recent decades," said Chediek, who also headed the UN Office for South-South Cooperation and served as the UN resident coordinator and the UN Development Programme's resident representative in multiple countries.

Workers unload cases with 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Chinese government at Yangon International Airport, Myanmar, on Sept 9. (MIAO JUESUO / XINHUA)

Meanwhile, China's developmental architecture system that provides global public goods led to the GDI setting the broad parameters of cooperation between China and Africa, Munene said.

"African countries have embraced the GDI knowing that development begets freedom and justice. Evoking the spirit of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, Agenda 2063, which is anchored in 20 goals for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future, needs like-minded multilateral frameworks such as the GDI to make the Pan-African dream a reality," he said.

Indeed, the benefits of the GDI are already tangible, Munene added. In the fight against COVID-19, China stood with Africa by committing resources to help the African Union achieve its goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the population by the end of this year, making this the largest vaccine assistance program undertaken by a single country to help Africa overcome the pandemic, he said.

China has played a major role in Africa's transformational agenda since 2000, with the launch of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and subsequently the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Munene said.

The GDI has also been widely recognized by other international communities.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries acknowledged the GDI in the Joint Statement of the ASEAN-China Special Summit to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations.

In the Joint Statement of China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Pacific Island countries expressed readiness to support and join the GDI to ensure alignment with the Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

Member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and central Asian countries have expressed their support for the GDI in the Declaration of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum and the Joint Statement between Leaders of China and the Five Central Asian Countries on the 30th Anniversary of Diplomatic Ties.

As an open and inclusive partnership, the GDI also welcomed the participation of developed countries in GDI projects, China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang said at the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI.

"China stands ready to strengthen strategic alignment with all members of the Group of Friends of the GDI and all other parties, focus on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, work together with the UN development system, focus on concrete projects … continuously enrich and improve the GDI project pool, and carry out policy dialogue, experience sharing, capacity building and practical cooperation in the eight GDI priority areas," Wang said.

Contact the writers at minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com